Taiwan Today

Han Fei's theory of leadership.

Because of his stuttering, Han Fei was unable to articulate his ideas with eloquence. A prince from the royal family in the small state of Han during the late phase of the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), Han Fei worried about the constant threats to his state and so repeatedly submitted leadership suggestions to his king, who ignored his advice. Han Fei decided on another course of action. He wrote his observations and advice into a book, Hanfeizi.

Han Fei's book is one of the many documents of the time proposing ideas to leaders on how to attain the goals of the state. This body of work forms the basis of the Legalist school of thought. While most people know that Confucianism lies at the heart of Chinese culture, few realize that Legalism has vied with it for cultural influence throughout China's history and in some ways continues to do so even in modern Chinese societies.

Unlike the Confucians, Legalists had no interest in preserving or restoring the customs or moral values of the past. Their only goal was to teach the ruler how to survive and prosper in a highly competitive world through various measures of administrative reform, such as strengthening the central government, increasing food production, enforcing military training and replacing the old aristocracy with a team of bureaucrats. The principles of Legalism are in direct opposition to Confucianism in many respects. During the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), however, the two systems were somewhat integrated since Legalism was used as an instrument to consolidate the Confucian social system. Chinese leaders used Legalist methods to control people and defend their power and position, but retained Confucian doctrine for education and discipline. Society was characterized by use of Confucianism in public and Legalism in private. The philosophies became mixed to some extent. This situation persisted while China was in a period of order and prosperity, and the emperor's power was strong and stable. But when society fell into turmoil, conflict between Confucianism and Legalism erupted frequently. Those involved in power struggles have tended to use related cultural slogans from one school or the other to attack their opponents. For example, during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the Red Guards used the slogan "denounce Confucianism and support Legalism" to mobilize the masses to participate in political struggle.

Han Fei's theory of leadership was formulated in the context of power struggles among regional warlords. When he wrote about leadership, he had in mind the governance of a state. However, his idioms and metaphors to explain the principles of leadership are well known to many modern Chinese intellectuals and are applicable not only to a feudal state, but also to modern governance.

Leadership Theory

In order to devise a theory of leadership, one first has to address the question of human nature. Han Fei assumed human nature is inherently bad and based his theory of leadership on the presumption that all human behavior is motivated by a ruthless pursuit of self-interest, not moral values:

"The carriage maker making carriages hopes that men will grow rich and eminent; the carpenter fashioning coffins hopes that men will die prematurely. It is not that the carriage maker is kind-hearted and the carpenter unprincipled. It is only that if men do not become rich and eminent, the carriages will never sell, and if men do not die, there will be no market for coffins.*"

Han Fei's leadership theory entails three core concepts, namely, shih (authority, power and influence), fa (laws and regulations) and shu (management technique). Leaders can only maintain their position if they have enough power to apply the law and manage their subordinates.

Power and Authority

Position is the basis of legitimate power and authority; it is the position and not the person that holds the power. It must be gained through a specified procedure that is recognized as legitimate by members of the group. Other Legalist philosophers elaborated on the concept of position as power, noting that a person occupying a position and exercising power is similar to a dragon sailing in clouds and riding the mist, as Chinese dragons cannot fly without clouds and mist. Once a leader loses his or her position, when the clouds have dissipated and the fog melted away, the leader loses power, just as a Chinese dragon on the ground is nothing more than an earthworm. It is crucial for a person to occupy an important position in order to be able to realize leadership ability and command followers to achieve national goals.

Of course, it is unlikely a person could maintain power merely by occupying a certain position. Real power means the ability to reward and punish, which Han Fei called the "two handles." He emphasized that the ruler should keep the two handles in his own hands and never let subordinates get control of them lest they usurp power. The two handles are to be applied in combination with fa (law) and shu (management technique) to reinforce compliance with the law and discourage disobedience.

Legalism is like Confucianism in that it is a system for concentrating power in the hands of the leader: Confucians required subordinates to conform to an ethical system of hierarchal relationships, while the Legalists advocated use of the two handles. Taiwan's political environment is influenced by both of these traditions, neither of which allows for the existence of a loyal opposition. In this stage of its democratic development, Taiwan is facing the challenges of developing a loyal opposition that can confront the ruling party without losing sight of national interests.

The Law Rules

The second core concept in Han Fei's theory of leadership is fa, that is laws or regulations. Although Han Fei argued that fa should be initiated by the ruler, he did not think that a ruler should establish laws on a personal whim. Han Fei supported the use of natural law established with the consensus of group members:

"In a society of permanent stability, the law is constituted in such a natural way that nobody is dissatisfied with it or complains about it."Han Fei believed that if all rules are constituted on the basis of equal treatment for all people, members of society would be more willing to follow them without complaint.

Laws must be characterized by several important features in order to ensure the stable operation of the state. First, as the standard of behavior for all people, laws must be constant over time, objective and fair to everybody. In contrast to the Confucian idea that penalties should not be applied to high state officials, and official rites should not be used by ordinary people, Han Fei argued that once a law was announced, it should be applicable to everyone without exception:

"The law no more makes exceptions for men of high station than the plumb line bends to accommodate a crooked place in the wood. What the law has decreed the wise man cannot dispute nor the brave man venture to contest. When faults are to be punished, the highest minister cannot escape; when good is to be rewarded, the lowest peasant must not be passed over."

Han Fei warned that without equal application of and strict adherence to the law, the whole government could suffer crises due to struggles between cliques and factions.

Han Fei also argued that it is improper to use a complicated doctrine that ordinary people cannot easily understand as the basis of law. Laws and regulations must be so simple and feasible that everybody can carry them out to achieve rewards and avoid punishment. It is also important that laws be practical. Whenever they are found to be impractical, they should be revised with reference to the real situation to make them appropriate. Han Fei advised: "The tasks to be accomplished will change when the world changes, so the method for doing the task should be changed as a result."

The Legalist understanding of the role of laws as primary in governing a state stands in great contrast to the Confucian concept of the role of laws. Legalists believe that a nation should be governed by the rule of law and that all are equal before the law. The legal system, not the leader, rules the state. Confucians believed that a nation should be governed by those of the highest virtue. Such people were seen as best able to respond to the complexities of daily life and capable of deciding the moral course of action, rather than as needing to rely on a rigid code of laws. Confucians assumed people would act properly out of their innate moral character and a desire for the respect of their peers and family, rather than out of fear of punishment as prescribed by law.

Although Legalism appears to have much in common with rule-of-law thinking, it actually rests on a fundamentally different conception of human beings as group members rather than individuals, which means that people are not only responsible for their individual acts, but for those of other people as well. For example, in Taiwan it is possible for adult children to be held legally responsible for the actions of their elderly parents, as in the case in which an elderly woman forged some documents and was spared a criminal conviction while her son was prosecuted.

Two Handles

Han Fei proposed three main techniques, shu, for a ruler to control subordinates. First, it is vital to assign competent talent to the right position. "If officials all have their own specialized skills, then there is no confrontation between the strong and the weak, and nobody in the government attacks one another."

Second, the only way to know whether competent people have been assigned to a position is to trace their accomplishments in accordance with their projects. That is, Han Fei recognized that a government is destined to face many problems in pursuing its goals. A leader has to ask subordinates to propose projects to address these problems, while the leader's own job is to follow up on projects and evaluate their effectiveness:

"A leader must listen to subordinates' words and observe their deeds. If they have nothing to do with the effectiveness of attaining goals, though the words are sound and the deeds firmly determined, they are all wild speeches and useless acts."

Han Fei's scheme for the operation of officialdom shares a number of characteristics with modern bureaucracy as described by sociologist Max Weber, although Weber presented his ideas more systematically. Weber's statements can even be used as footnotes to explain Han Fei's discourse about fa and shu. Han Fei's suggestions are also similar to the contemporary concept of project management in which a leader asks the staff to propose a project. Once the project has been approved, the staff is authorized to execute the project, and the leader checks the match between the project's goals and the final results.

Han Fei was clearly a utilitarian. He advised that in evaluating subordinates, the first priority for a leader to consider is the subordinate's effectiveness in attaining national goals. Eloquent speeches and high-minded deeds that make no substantial contribution to the attainment of goals are useless and should not be encouraged. Thus, the next important step in managing subordinates is to follow up the evaluation with rewards or punishment according to an objectively defined standard:

"If the ruler wishes to put an end to evil-doing, then he must be careful to match up words and deeds. The ministers present their proposals, and the ruler assigns them tasks on the basis of their words, and then concentrates on demanding the accomplishment of the task. If the accomplishment fits the task, and the task fits the words, then a reward is bestowed; but if they do not match, punishment must be meted out."

If there is a match between performance and proposal, that is, if the words and deeds correspond, the subordinate should be rewarded; otherwise, the subordinate should be punished. Only those who make substantial contributions to the attainment of national goals should be eligible to be promoted to higher positions in the government:

"A truly enlightened ruler uses the law to select people for him; he does not choose them himself. He uses the law to weigh their merits; he does not attempt to judge them for himself. Men of true worth will not be able to hide their talents, nor will spoilers be able to gloss over their faults. Then there will be a clear understanding of values between the ruler and his ministers, so the state can be easily governed."

Han Fei's ideas about reward allocation stand in stark contrast to Confucian ideals. When a Legalist leader is assessing how to allocate rewards and punishment, contributions to the accomplishment of state goals should be considered. In contrast, in Confucianism, feelings (qing) and benevolence ( ren) are of foremost importance in order to ensure that the action taken suits the particular people and situation involved. Whereas in a Legalist framework, people are rewarded according to their individual merit, in Confucianism, ordinary people are obligated to favor family members, while scholars are obligated to benefit society. Leaders are thus required to demonstrate their virtue by widely practicing ren (benevolence).

The conflict between rule by law and rule by ren still exists in modern Chinese societies. For example, in the wake of the 2004 presidential election in Taiwan there was disagreement over how to resolve questions about the ballot tally and voting procedures, as well as conflict over how to investigate the election eve assassination attempt on the president. The elected candidates endorsed following established legal procedures to the letter. The opposition candidates advocated taking the feelings of Taiwan's people into consideration.

The Mist Clears

The brilliance of Han Fei's leadership theory was recognized in his own time, although he was not himself rewarded for his efforts in attaining the goals of state. Some of his works were sent to the king of Qin, a young ruler in a neighboring state with the ambition to conquer the whole country. The king admired his writing and immediately began putting its principles into practice. As a way to meet Han Fei, he sent his troops to launch a fierce attack on the state of Han. In response, Han's king dispatched Han Fei as a peace envoy to call on the king of Qin in hope of saving Han from destruction. The king received Han Fei with great delight, but was soon persuaded by his own advisors that as a prince of the royal family of Han, Han Fei would remain loyal to his clan. Han Fei was imprisoned and forced to commit suicide. Thus, his presumption that human behavior is motivated by self-interest, not moral values or virtue, was proved to be correct.

*All quotes in this article are taken from Hanfeizi, which can be found online at http://www.chinapage.com/big5/classic/hfz.htm.

Copyright (c) 2005 by Olwen Bedford.